Manual of Theology

By J. L. Dagg

Book Third - Doctrine Concerning the Will and Works of God

Chapter
1

Will of God

The term will, which always imports desire, is variously applied,
according to the object of that desire.

1. It denotes intention or purpose to act. It is said of Apollos "His will
was not at all to come at this time,"[1]i.
e., he had not formed the intention or purpose to come. In this sense, the
will of God is spoken of: "According to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will."[2]
Purpose or intention may exist before the time of action arrives. When it has
arrived, the mind puts forth an act termed volition, to produce the desired
effect. In human beings, purposes may be fickle, and may undergo change before
the time for action comes; but God's purpose or intention is never changed; and
when the time for producing the purposed effect arrives, we are not to conceive
that a new volition arises in the mind of God; but the effect follows,
according to the will of God, without any new effort on his part.

2. It denotes a desire to act, restrained by stronger opposing desires, or
other counteracting influences. Pilate was "willing" to release Jesus;[3] but other considerations, present to his mind,
overruled this desire, and determined his action. We are compelled to conceive
of the divine mind, from the knowledge which we possess of our own; and the
Scriptures adapt their language to our conceptions. In this way, a desire to
act is sometimes attributed to God, when opposing considerations prevent his
action. "I would scatter them, were it not that I feared the wrath of the
enemy."[4] "How often would I have gathered,
&e., and ye would not."[5]

3. It is used with reference to an external object that is desired, or an
action which it is desired that another should perform. "Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldst not."[6] "Be it unto thee
as thou wilt."[7] "Ask what ye will."[8] "What will ye, that I should do."[9] In this sense, as expressing simply what is in itself
desirable to God, will is attributed to him. "Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance."[10] "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
&c."[11] "This is the will of God, even
your sanctification."[12]

4. Closely allied to the last signification, and perhaps included in it, is
that use of the term will, in which it denotes command,
requirement. When the person, whose desire of pleasure it is that an
action should be performed by another, has authority over that other, the
desire expressed assumes the character of precept. The expressed will of a
suppliant, is petition; and expressed will of a ruler, is command. What we
know that it is the pleasure of God we should do, it is our duty to do, and his
pleasure made known to us becomes a law.

Will of Command.

It is specially important to distinguish between the first and
last of the significations which have been enumerated. In the first, the will
of God refers exclusively to his own action, and imports his fixed
determination as to what he will do. It is called his will of purpose, and
always takes effect. In the last sense, it refers to the actions of his
creatures, and expresses what it would be pleasing to him that they should do.
This is called his will of precept, and it always fails to take effect when the
actions of his creatures do not please him, i.e., when they are in violation of
his commands. The will of purpose is intended, when it is said, "According to
the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,"[13] and, "He doeth according to his will in the
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth."[14] The will of precept is intended, when it is said, "Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."[15] Let it be noted that, in the former case, God only is
the agent, and the effect is certain; in the latter, his creatures are the
agents, and the effect is not an object of certain expectation, but of
petition.

GOD'S WILL OF COMMAND, HOWEVER MADE KNOWN TO US, IS OUR RULE OF DUTY.[16]

The Scriptures make the will of God the rule of duty, both to those who have
the means of clear knowledge, and those who have not. The disobedience of the
former will be punished with many stripes, that of the latter with few. No man
will be held accountable, except for the means of knowledge that are within his
reach; but these, even in the case of the benighted heathen, are sufficient to
render them inexcusable. We have no right to dictate to God in what manner he
shall make his will known to us; but we are bound to avail ourselves of all
possible means for obtaining the knowledge of it; and, when known, we are bound
to obey it perfectly, and from the heart.

Various terms are used to denote the will of God, as made known in the Holy
Scriptures, statutes, judgments, laws, precepts, ordinances, &c. The two
great precepts, which lie at the foundation of all the laws, are thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou shalt love they neighbor as
thyself. The first of these is expanded into the four commandments, which
constitute the first table of the decalogue; the second into the six
commandments, which constitute the second table. The decalogue was given for a
law to the children of Israel, as is apparent from its introduction. "I am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage."[17] It was, however,
distinguished from the other laws given to that nation, by being pronounced
audibly from Sinai with the voice of God, and by being engraved with the finger
of God on the tables of stone. When we examine its precepts, we discover that
they respect the relations of men, as men, to God and to one another; and we
find, in the New Testament, that their obligation is regarded as extending to
Gentiles under the gospel dispensation.[18]
We infer, therefore, that the decalogue, though given to the Israelites,
respected them as men, and not as a peculiar people, and is equally obligatory
on all men.

The ceremonial law respected the children of Israel as a worshipping
congregation, called "the Congregation of the Lord." It commenced with the
institution of the passover, and ended when Christ our passover was sacrificed
for us, and when the handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross. Then
its obligation ceased. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ceremonies of the
Christian dispensation, obligatory on the disciples of Christ, to the end of
the world.

The judicial law was given to the Israelites as a nation, and is not
obligatory on any other people. The principles of justice on which it was
based, are universal, and should be incorporated into every civil code.

God is a voluntary agent. There are many powers in nature which operate
without volition. Fire consumes the fuel, steam moves the engine, and poison
takes away life; but these have no will. Even beings that possess will,
sometimes act involuntarily, and sometimes against their will, or by compulsion
from a superior power. God acts voluntarily in every thing that he does;-- not
by physical necessity; not by compulsion from any superior power; not by
mistake, or oversight, or power unintentionally exerted. Men may plead in
apology for their acts, that they were done in thoughtlessness, or through
inadvertence; but God has never any such apology to make. Known unto him are
all his works from the beginning of the world,[20] and therefore they have been duly considered.

God is not omnipotent, if he absolutely wills or desires to do anything, and
fails to accomplish it.

WHATEVER GOD DOES IS ACCORDING TO A PURPOSE THAT IS ETERNAL, UNCHANGEABLE,
PERFECTLY FREE, AND INFINITELY WISE.[22]

That God has a purpose, none can deny, who attribute wisdom to him. To act
without purpose is the part of a child, or an idiot. A wise man does not act
without purpose, much less can the only wise God. Besides, the Scriptures
speak so expressly of his purpose, that no one, who admits the authority of
revelation, can reject the doctrine, however much he may misinterpret or abuse
it. The term implies that God has an end in view in whatever he does, and that
he has a plan according to which he acts.

The purpose of God is eternal and unchangeable. A wise man, in executing a
purpose, may have many separate volitions, which are momentary actings of his
mind; but his purpose is more durable, continuing from its first formation in
the mind to its complete execution. The term will, as applied to the act of
the divine mind, does not, in itself, imply duration; but the purpose of God,
from the very import of the phrase, must have duration. God must have had a
purpose when he created the world; and the Scriptures speak of his purpose
before the world began. But the duration of it is still more explicitly
declared in the phrase, "the eternal purpose."[23] The term is never used in the plural number by the
inspired writers; as if God had many plans, or a succession of plans. It is
one entire, glorious scheme; and the date of it is from everlasting. Its
eternity implies its unchangeableness; and its unchangeableness implies its
eternity; and its oneness accords with both these properties.

The purpose of God is perfectly free. It is not forced upon him from without;
for nothing existed to restrict the infinite mind of him who was before all.
It is the purpose which he hath "purposed in himself."[24] It is his will; and must, therefore, be voluntary. The
term purpose and will apply to the same thing in different aspects of it, or
according to different modes of conceiving it. If purpose more
naturally suggests the idea of duration, will suggests its freeness. It
is not the fate believed in by the ancient heathens, by which they considered
the gods to be bound, as truly as men.

The purpose of God is infinitely wise. We have argued, that God must have a
purpose because he is wise; and, therefore, his wisdom must be concerned in his
purpose. It is not an arbitrary or capricious scheme; but one devised by
infinite wisdom, having the best possible end to accomplish, and adopting the
best possible means for its accomplishment.

Writers on theology have employed the term Decrees, to denote the purpose of
God. It is an objection to this term, that there is no inspired authority for
its use in this sense. When the Scriptures use the term decree, they signify
by it a command promulged, to be observed by those under authority. It is the
will of precept, rather than the will of purpose. And further, its use in the
plural number does not accord so well with the oneness of the divine plan.

Scarcely any doctrine of religion has given so much occasion for cavil and
stumbling as that of God's decrees. As if men would be wiser than God, they
refuse to let him form a plan, or they find fault with it when formed; and very
few have so much humility and simplicity of faith, as to escape wholly from the
embarrassment which the objections to this doctrine have produced. They,
therefore, need a careful examination.

Objection 1.--The purpose of God is inconsistent with the free-agency
of man.

It is a full answer to this objection, that a mere purpose cannot interfere
with the freedom of any one. When a tyrant designs to imprison one of his
subjects, until the design is carried into execution, the liberty of the
subject is not invaded. He roams as free as ever, untouched by the
premeditated evil. The infringement of his liberty commences when the purpose
begins to be executed, and not before. So, in the divine government, the
purpose of the Supreme Ruler interferes not at all with the liberty of his
subjects, so long as it remains a mere purpose. The objection which we are
considering, is wholly inapplicable to the doctrine of God's purpose. Its
proper place, if it has any, is against the doctrine of God's providence; and,
under that head, it will be proper to meet it. It was God's purpose to create
man a free-agent; and he did so create him. Thus far, neither the purpose, not
the execution of it, can be charged with infringing man's moral freedom; but
they unite to establish it. It was God's purpose to govern man as a
free-agent; and has he not done so? If every man feels that the providence of
God, while it presides in the affairs of men, leaves him perfectly free to act
from choice in every thing that he does, what ground is there for the
complaint, that the purpose of God interferes with man's fee-agency? If the
evil complained of is not in the execution of the purpose, it is certainly not
in the purpose itself.

This objection often comes before us practically. When we are called upon for
action to which we are averse, the argument presents itself; if God has
fore-ordained whatever comes to pass, the event is certain; and what is to be,
will be, without our effort. It is worthy of remark, that this argument never
induces us to deviate from a course to which we are inclined. If some pleasure
invites, we never excuse ourselves from the indulgence, on the plea, that, if
we are to enjoy it, we shall enjoy it. The fact is sufficient to teach us the
insincerity of the plea, when admitted in other cases. It prevails with us
only through the deceitfulness of sin; and, however specious the argument may
appear, when it coincides with our inclinations, we never trust it in any other
case. No man in his senses remains at ease in a burning dwelling, on the plea,
that, if he is to escape from the flames, he will escape. The providence of
God establishes the relation between cause and effect, and gives full scope for
the influence of the human will. To argue that effects will be produced
without their appropriate causes, is to deny the known arrangement of
Providence. He who expects from the purpose of God, that which the providence
of God denies him, expects the purpose to be inconsistent with its own
development. He charges the plan of the Most Wise, with inconsistency and
folly, that he may find a subterfuge for criminal indulgence.

Objection 2.--If God purposed the fall of angels or men, he is the
author of their sin.

Before we proceed to answer this objection, it is necessary to examine the
terms in which it is expressed. In what sense did God purpose the fall of
angels or men, or any sinful action: There is a sense, familiar to the pious,
in which any event that takes place, under the overruling providence of God, is
attributed to him, whatever subordinate agents may have been concerned in
effecting it. The wind, the lightning, the Chaldeans, the Sabeans, were all
concerned in the afflictions that fell on the patriarch Job; but he recognised
the overruling hand of God in every event, and piously exclaimed; "The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."[25] So Joseph, when sold by his brethren in
Egypt, saw the hand of God in the event, and explained the design of his
providence: "For God did send me before you to preserve life."[26] In precisely the same sense in which God's providence is
concerned with such events, his purpose is concerned with them; and in no
other.

With this explanation, let us proceed to consider the objection. Did Joseph
design to charge on God the authorship of his brethrens' sin? Nothing was
further from his mind. They had been truly guilty of their brother's blood;
and their own consciences charged them with it. They felt that they were
responsible for the sin, and Joseph knew the same; and nothing that he said was
designed to transfer the responsibility from them to God. Yet he saw and
delighted to contemplate the purpose of God in the event. That purpose was,
"to save much people alive." This purpose was executed; and God was the
author, both of the purpose and the beneficial result. So, in every case, the
good which he educes out of moral evil, and not the moral evil itself, is the
proper object of his purpose. It should ever be remembered, that his purpose
is his intention to act; and that, strictly speaking, it relates to his own
action exclusively. It does, indeed, extend to everything that is done under
the sun, just as the omnipresence of God extends to everything; but it extends
to everything, no otherwise than as he is concerned with everything; and what
God does, and nothing else, is the proper object of his purpose. "HE WORKETH
all thing after the counsel of his own will."[27] "I WILL DO all my pleasure."[28] "HE DOETH according to his will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth."[29]
It cannot be too carefully noticed, that the purpose of God relates strictly
and properly to his own actions. Now, God is not the actor of sin, and
therefore his purpose can never make him the author of it.

The objection, though it may appear to have greater force when applied to the
first sin of man, is not, in reality, more applicable to this, than to every
sin which has been since committed. God made Adam, and all his descendants,
moral and accountable agents, permitted their sin; and he overrules the evil,
from the beginning throughout, to effect a most glorious result. In all this,
what God has done, and is doing, he purposed to do. In all, his action is most
righteous, wise, and holy; and, therefore, his purpose is so. He is the
author, not of the moral evil which he permits, but of the good of which he
makes it the occasion.

The distinction between the permission and the authorship of sin some have
denied; but, in so doing, they have not the countenance of God's word. The
whole tenor of the inspired volume leads us to regard God as the author of
holiness, but not of sin. We are taught that in him is no sin;[30] that "he is light, and in him is no darkness;"[31] that "every good and perfect gift," not sin,
"cometh down from the Father of lights;"[32]
that God is not tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man.[33] In such language we are taught to consider God as the
author and source of holiness; and it is as contrary to the doctrine of the
holy word to attribute sin to him, as darkness to the sun, yet this same word
teaches his permission of evil. "He suffered all nations to walk in
their own way."[34] His long-suffering, of
which the Scriptures speak so much, implies the permission of sin. But of that
which is highly displeasing to him, even when he bears with it, he cannot be
the author.

Objection 3.--If God purposed the final condemnation of the wicked, he
made them on purpose to damn them.

This objection, which impiety loves to present in the most repulsive form, it
becomes us to approach with profound reverence for him whose character and
motives it impugnes. Let us imagine ourselves present at the proceedings of
the last day. The righteous Judge sits on his great white throne, and all
nations are gathered before him. The books are opened, and every man is
impartially judged, according to the deeds done in the body. The award is made
up, and the sentence pronounced. The wicked are commanded to "depart into the
fire prepared for the devil and his angels;" and the righteous are welcomed
into "the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world." The
scene is past, and the mysterious economy of God's forbearance and grace is now
finally closed. Is there anything in the transactions of that day which is
unworthy of God? Is there anything which the holy inhabitants of heaven,
throughout their immortal existence, can ever remember with disapprobation?
Not so. The Judge, while he punishes the wicked with everlasting destruction,
from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, is glorified in his
saints, and admired in all them that believed;"[35] and he will ever appear glorious in the decisions of that
day. If God's action on that day will be so glorious to him, will it be any
dishonor to him that he has purposed so to act?

The idea, were any one disposed seriously to entertain it, that God will be
taken by surprise at the last judgment, and compelled to pass an unpremeditated
sentence, is for ever set aside by the fact that, as early as the days of
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, the great day, and especially the fearful doom of
the ungodly, were foretold. "Behold the Lord cometh, with ten thousand of his
saints, to execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are ungodly
among them, of all their ungodly deeds."[36]
This fact also demonstrates that the Lord will not punish for the mere pleasure
of punishing. Why does he give warning of that day? Why are his messengers
sent to warn men to flee from the wrath to come? Why are these messages
delivered with so earnest entreaty and expostulation, so that his servants say,
"As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be by
reconciled to God."[37] As creatures, formed
by his hand, he has not, and cannot have, any pleasure in rendering them
unhappy; but, as rebels against his authority, enemies to his character and
government, and the good order of this universal empire, and obstinate
rejecters of his scheme of mercy and reconciliation, he will take pleasure in
inflicting on them the punishment which his justice requires. The reward of
the righteous is a kingdom prepared for them from before the foundation of the
world; but the fire into which the wicked will be driven, is said to be
prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels.[38] In this significant manner, God has been pleased to
teach us, that his punishments are prepared, not for his creatures, as such,
but only for sinners, and in view of sins already committed. Must he,
to secure himself from disgrace and reproach, be able to plead that he has been
taken by surprise, and that, from the beginning of the world, he had never
expected the fearful result? If the proceedings of this great day will be so
glorious to God that he will regard them with pleasure through all future
eternity, why may he not have regarded them with pleasure through all eternity
past?

The objection, originating in dislike of God's justice, wholly misrepresents
the character of his righteous judgment. It leaps from the creation of man to
the final doom of the wicked, and wholly overlooks the intermediate cause of
that doom. It proceeds as if sin were a very inconsiderable matter, and as if
it must have been so regarded by God; and, therefore, it represents the
punishment inflicted for it as if inflicted for its own sake. The sentence
pronounced will be, in the judgment of God, for just the sufficient cause; and,
in all the purpose of God respecting that sentence, the cause has been
contemplated. What God does, and why he does it, are equally included in the
divine purpose; and this connection the objection wholly overlooks. God did
not regard sin as a trifling thing, when, on account of it, he destroyed the
old world with the flood; and, as if to answer the very objection now before
us, and convince men that he did not make them for the pleasure of destroying
them, it is recorded; "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth; and
it grieved him at his heart."[39]

Our best judgment decides that the world ought not to have been made without a
purpose, and that, for its mighty movements now to proceed without any purpose,
is infinitely undesirable. The best work of human hands that we contemplate
with any pleasure, has been formed with some purpose; and no intelligent being
can view the works of God with satisfaction, if he can imagine them to have
been undertaken and executed without design. Who would not grieve to think
that this vast machinery is moving to accomplish no end; that the planets are
hurled through space wildly, guided in their course, and controlled in their
velocity, by no wise counsel; that the sun shines, that animals exist, that
immortal man lives, moves, and has his being, without purpose? In this view,
what an enigma is our life? Our understandings may consent not to comprehend
the purpose for which the world was made, but to consent that it was made for
no purpose, they cannot. Our intelligent natures wholly reject the thought.

The doctrine of God's purpose, while it recommends itself to our
understandings, applies a test to the moral principles of our hearts. If God
has a purpose, we should delight to study it, and rejoice in the accomplishment
of it; and our hearts and lives should be regulated in harmony with it. When
we prefer that God should have no purpose, or that it should be different from
what it is, our hearts cannot be right in his sight. If we loved him as we
ought, we should rejoice in the accomplishment of his will, and view with
pleasure the unfolding of his grand designes. Holy angels study the mystery of
redeeming love, and learn, from the dispensations toward the Church, the
manifold wisdom of God.[40] If right
principles prevailed in our hearts, we would not presume to dictate to the
Infinitely Wise, nor find fault with his plans, but wait with pleasure on the
development of his will: and when we cannot see the wisdom and goodness of his
works, we should, in the simplicity of faith, rest assured that his plan, when
fully unfolded, will be found most righteous and most wise.